![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
...because holidays are too much fun to celebrate only once :) if there's typos, just deal with it. no snooty grammar comments.
what mabon means to me...
i tend to take a fairly literal view of the various holidays. even though we don't live a pastoral, agricultural existence anymore, let's face it. our survival still revolves around these things. crops don't grow, animals don't have more animals, we die. it's a pretty cut and dried situation.
therefore, i tend to lean more towards the older interpretations of these holidays than the newer versions. harvest to me is about the actual harvest, not some psychological reaping of what you sowed back at ostara....
so for me, i look around, and try to see things as our ancestors would if they were farming and herding. lughnasadh is the first fruits, ushering in the beginning of the harvest. you want to make sure the harvest is successful and that not to many people die in the thresher or are gored to death by a bull they're trying to slaughter. you don't want late season rains, hail, (or, ahem, hurricanes) to ruin the fields before you get to them.
at the equinox then, around here, the harvest is in full swing. if we were dependent on our own harvest, we would begin to be getting a good idea of exactly how much food we'd have to store thru the winter and into the the next season, and we'd know if we would be hopeful or not.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chronarchy also rightly points out that this was THE most plentiful time of the year food wise, so why not party? hopefully, not too many farm hands have lost their lives (i'm feeling morbid today apparently) and we can also hopefully celebrate a productive year and the gifts of the Kindreds. i feel this is what my celtic and germanic ancestors would have been doing more/less formally around the midharvest time. at samhain, it is time to rest, as the harvest is done. i see this same pattern (beg. planting/mid planting/end planting) in the spring festivals, too.
three cranes grove rite
we really learned a lot from summerset! no, technically things were learned at lughnasadh (albeit indirectly by me, since i wasn't there). we put into play the pre-ritual huddle, several of us arrived early at the site to connect with each other and with the land around us. i think this was fantastic, and hope we continue doing so.
the patron of the rite was Teutates as this was our anniversary rite. alas, founding memberanivair was unable to attend :( but all went well still. even though there were some glitches in performance, overall those who invoked, made praise offerings, and participated in silence...well, i could just feel that we were NOT sleepwalking through this rite. our omens were Isa and ... well, i don't recall...fehu was one, as well. chronarchy interpreted Isa to mean that we were NOT alone in the frozen wilderness, we were together, both as a grove, and i also believe as a grove with our Kindreds as well. (and thus also proves indirectly what i had been trying to argue once, that runes, oghams, and tarot cards are not inherently positive or negative...they simply are.)
having given the rite a general thumbs up, one thing that i feel is lacking, and not just from 3cg rites, but all adf rights, is a focus on the actual cycle of the earth. i may have mentioned this in my last round of write-ups, but for an earth-based religion, we don't seem to acknowledge much of that in the rite itself. this is one thing i would change, were anyone to ask lowly little ol' me.
we also got a new member :) wheeeee!
hearth rite
i worked really hard editing down a rite i found in the troth's blot book, and i'm not sure what to think about it. i kinda merged it with something in kondratiev's "celtic rituals/the apple branch." first, we honored the harvest, and i spoke 'purty words' i don't remember now in honor of the farmers and allied occupations without which we'd all die. we ate apple and grainy bread and were SUPPOSED to drink fruit ale, but i screwed up and opened the stout instead. (no, it REALLY was a screw up, smart alecks.) i didn't notice 'til afterwards though, so it didn't get in the way. then we got rid of all the lights and i drummed in the darkness as we meditated on the end of summer and the coming winter. i wanted to find a way to incorporate the notion of the sacred boar hunt, but i came up empty. during that time, we honored thor as protector (more stout). afterwards, we lit white candles, i unveiled the 'winter' altar with symbols of winter on it and we honored skadhi and ullr with chilled REAL russian vodka and beef jerky (symbolic of preserved meat, i supposed). then we closed and probably made a nice show to our neighbors as we distributed the remnants outside.
hm. first, i'm not sure i liked the rite as it ended up. second, i'm always nervous doing rites just as a couple. so i don't know that i have anything positive or negative to say about it. i feel the kindred were listening and honored, and we did focus on the meaning of the holiday, but as far as its effect on me....? i just don't know....
stone soup circle rite
this actually ended up being much better than i thought it would be. the fairly eclectic nature of our circle leads to some interesting ritual combinations, but this was new :) A&K were doing the rite and since A is jewish and K is asatru, and it was during rosh hoshana (sp) the patrons were Idunna and ... YHWH. i felt fairly uncomfortable ... i still can blend IE pantheons with out TOO much trouble, but germanic and semitic? not to mention the semitic one that gets quite enough energy feeding, to be honest....
in all, it ended up okay. K wrote a BEAUTIFUL poem about Idunna and her apples, and i'm blanking on the story, but it had to do with the theft of the apples (end of summer?). A's portion consisted of giving thanks, which is an appropriate fall theme and the theme of rosh hoshana too, and then we ate apples dipped in honey, a jewish tradition at this time, and fitting within the idunna theme well. then there was food and J's trothmoot-award winning mead!! it was good :)
blackthorn temple rite
finally i got to go to one of their rites. usually, it's scheduled against either 3CG or SSC, but not so this time :) got there and wandered the site, trying to stay out of everyone's way. 3CG was well represented with me,seamus_mcnasty, john, beverly, and kim (does she have an LJ name?) not to mention lilith and tana. also saw some folks we met at summerset, dansrobe and dansarani and the folks from grove of the great dragon, which was a very nice suprise :). did introductions, but john and beverly already knew GotGD folks, having attended their rites before. (i think...somehow they had talked before...) vitaminJ invoked the north, i invoked the gods (on a spur of the moment...nothing like being put on the spot!), we tied ribbons to a HUGE sunwheel made of corn (a little psychological -- one represented that for which we are thankful and one represented that which we wanted to leave behind 'on the vine -- but it was all good). we then turned the wheel a bit trying really hard to NOT sing as a dirge :) then carried it down to the fire to burn it. good food, good energy, and a good end to the equinox.
all in all, not AS great as my summer solstice stuff was...but that's okay. i have some ideas for how to change for next year.
what mabon means to me...
i tend to take a fairly literal view of the various holidays. even though we don't live a pastoral, agricultural existence anymore, let's face it. our survival still revolves around these things. crops don't grow, animals don't have more animals, we die. it's a pretty cut and dried situation.
therefore, i tend to lean more towards the older interpretations of these holidays than the newer versions. harvest to me is about the actual harvest, not some psychological reaping of what you sowed back at ostara....
so for me, i look around, and try to see things as our ancestors would if they were farming and herding. lughnasadh is the first fruits, ushering in the beginning of the harvest. you want to make sure the harvest is successful and that not to many people die in the thresher or are gored to death by a bull they're trying to slaughter. you don't want late season rains, hail, (or, ahem, hurricanes) to ruin the fields before you get to them.
at the equinox then, around here, the harvest is in full swing. if we were dependent on our own harvest, we would begin to be getting a good idea of exactly how much food we'd have to store thru the winter and into the the next season, and we'd know if we would be hopeful or not.
chronarchy also rightly points out that this was THE most plentiful time of the year food wise, so why not party? hopefully, not too many farm hands have lost their lives (i'm feeling morbid today apparently) and we can also hopefully celebrate a productive year and the gifts of the Kindreds. i feel this is what my celtic and germanic ancestors would have been doing more/less formally around the midharvest time. at samhain, it is time to rest, as the harvest is done. i see this same pattern (beg. planting/mid planting/end planting) in the spring festivals, too. three cranes grove rite
we really learned a lot from summerset! no, technically things were learned at lughnasadh (albeit indirectly by me, since i wasn't there). we put into play the pre-ritual huddle, several of us arrived early at the site to connect with each other and with the land around us. i think this was fantastic, and hope we continue doing so.
the patron of the rite was Teutates as this was our anniversary rite. alas, founding member
anivair was unable to attend :( but all went well still. even though there were some glitches in performance, overall those who invoked, made praise offerings, and participated in silence...well, i could just feel that we were NOT sleepwalking through this rite. our omens were Isa and ... well, i don't recall...fehu was one, as well. chronarchy interpreted Isa to mean that we were NOT alone in the frozen wilderness, we were together, both as a grove, and i also believe as a grove with our Kindreds as well. (and thus also proves indirectly what i had been trying to argue once, that runes, oghams, and tarot cards are not inherently positive or negative...they simply are.)having given the rite a general thumbs up, one thing that i feel is lacking, and not just from 3cg rites, but all adf rights, is a focus on the actual cycle of the earth. i may have mentioned this in my last round of write-ups, but for an earth-based religion, we don't seem to acknowledge much of that in the rite itself. this is one thing i would change, were anyone to ask lowly little ol' me.
we also got a new member :) wheeeee!
hearth rite
i worked really hard editing down a rite i found in the troth's blot book, and i'm not sure what to think about it. i kinda merged it with something in kondratiev's "celtic rituals/the apple branch." first, we honored the harvest, and i spoke 'purty words' i don't remember now in honor of the farmers and allied occupations without which we'd all die. we ate apple and grainy bread and were SUPPOSED to drink fruit ale, but i screwed up and opened the stout instead. (no, it REALLY was a screw up, smart alecks.) i didn't notice 'til afterwards though, so it didn't get in the way. then we got rid of all the lights and i drummed in the darkness as we meditated on the end of summer and the coming winter. i wanted to find a way to incorporate the notion of the sacred boar hunt, but i came up empty. during that time, we honored thor as protector (more stout). afterwards, we lit white candles, i unveiled the 'winter' altar with symbols of winter on it and we honored skadhi and ullr with chilled REAL russian vodka and beef jerky (symbolic of preserved meat, i supposed). then we closed and probably made a nice show to our neighbors as we distributed the remnants outside.
hm. first, i'm not sure i liked the rite as it ended up. second, i'm always nervous doing rites just as a couple. so i don't know that i have anything positive or negative to say about it. i feel the kindred were listening and honored, and we did focus on the meaning of the holiday, but as far as its effect on me....? i just don't know....
stone soup circle rite
this actually ended up being much better than i thought it would be. the fairly eclectic nature of our circle leads to some interesting ritual combinations, but this was new :) A&K were doing the rite and since A is jewish and K is asatru, and it was during rosh hoshana (sp) the patrons were Idunna and ... YHWH. i felt fairly uncomfortable ... i still can blend IE pantheons with out TOO much trouble, but germanic and semitic? not to mention the semitic one that gets quite enough energy feeding, to be honest....
in all, it ended up okay. K wrote a BEAUTIFUL poem about Idunna and her apples, and i'm blanking on the story, but it had to do with the theft of the apples (end of summer?). A's portion consisted of giving thanks, which is an appropriate fall theme and the theme of rosh hoshana too, and then we ate apples dipped in honey, a jewish tradition at this time, and fitting within the idunna theme well. then there was food and J's trothmoot-award winning mead!! it was good :)
blackthorn temple rite
finally i got to go to one of their rites. usually, it's scheduled against either 3CG or SSC, but not so this time :) got there and wandered the site, trying to stay out of everyone's way. 3CG was well represented with me,
seamus_mcnasty, john, beverly, and kim (does she have an LJ name?) not to mention lilith and tana. also saw some folks we met at summerset, dansrobe and dansarani and the folks from grove of the great dragon, which was a very nice suprise :). did introductions, but john and beverly already knew GotGD folks, having attended their rites before. (i think...somehow they had talked before...) vitaminJ invoked the north, i invoked the gods (on a spur of the moment...nothing like being put on the spot!), we tied ribbons to a HUGE sunwheel made of corn (a little psychological -- one represented that for which we are thankful and one represented that which we wanted to leave behind 'on the vine -- but it was all good). we then turned the wheel a bit trying really hard to NOT sing as a dirge :) then carried it down to the fire to burn it. good food, good energy, and a good end to the equinox.all in all, not AS great as my summer solstice stuff was...but that's okay. i have some ideas for how to change for next year.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 07:19 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-09-28 07:36 pm (UTC)From:some qualifications...
1st off, is this something we as a grove wanna add....if i'm the only one that feels that way, then prolly not, especially as it seems to be an ADF thing rather than a 3CG thing.
2nd, since most of our rites are gaulish, what were the gaulish holidays? do we even know? and if we don't, should we smoosh something down over top of them that, say, esus will look at and go, "WTF are they talking about?"
now, if we decide we want to go forward....statement in purpose&precedent, which we do i think depending upon occassion....
we could put 'it' (whatever 'it' is) in the same slot as the lighting of bridhe's candles we do at imbolg...i don't think 'it' belongs at the 'magical workings' thing (although that seems to be just tagged on to the end of the rite as an afterthought anyway). i'm thinking AFTER the first invocations, before praise offerings.
'it' would be dependent upon the holiday....we seem to do this at samhain too, now that i think about it when we honor the ancestors.
it should be well before the waters, though.
howzhat for vague? :)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-29 05:10 am (UTC)From:As for incorporating the seasons, hmmmmm. The deity we chose usually links to the day's associations, but we seldom talk about the lore, etc, surrounding these myths. If we do lore nights, etc, that could help address some of these issues, but also subtler things might make a difference.
For example, why is our altar always so similar? Misty and I went altar-shopping tonight and they wound up fairly autumnal, and it seems that a great deal of people who keep private altars change them with the Wheel. So why not the grove one? Yes, things do cost money, but perhaps we could all contribute, or better yet, make things together. Misty and I saw so many inspiring things we thought it would be wonderful to try to do a craft-night of sorts with the grove... we could make altar decorations and ritual tools, group offerings and maybe even food depending how close it is to the rite. (I am thinking cookies etc for Yule, not like hamburgers for Midsummer two weeks ago. :)) This who conversation was sparked by the fact that Super Wal-mart has a sweet candle-making machine... but that's just a store. Who knows what the heck our resourceful grovemates have? :) We could at least work on getting a better variety of colours and textures (are patterns faux pas? :x) for our altar cloths.
As for other stuff, I think the potluck afterward could be better tied to the seasons. It's not like we can be food nazis and turn anything down if it ISN't particularly harvesty (NEVER limit one's food supply...) but if we as grovemates contribute perhaps we should pay attention to the seasonal foods our ancestors may have used (or would have if climates had been similar.) I, for example, try to make corn-bread, cinnamon/spice cakes, bread, etc, around the harvest time, and if I were rich I totally would have brought pomegranates for everyone. This is really trivial, but it psychologically DOES make a difference... member our awesome cookout at Midsummer? And the mangos and canteloupe and strawberries? Yes, I still do. :)
Before I run out of comment space, maybe we should consider guided meditations or simply a suggested theme for the quieting and preparaation that occurs just before a ritual. Remind people what the season is all about, what the core of the High Day really is, so they can reflect on it as a whole before they even know who the deity of occasion is.